Elkhart Lake, WI – The fact that any driver is capable of winning in the NTT INDYCAR series was proved by Christian Lundgaard coming from last to win the XPEL Grand Prix at Road America, ahead of David Malukas. An official review changed Will Power’s finish to third after he was involved in a last-lap incident that ended the race under caution; Kyffin Simpson and Alex Palou completed the top-five.
At the start, Lundgaard made contact with the back of Scott Dixon, damaging his front wing, and had to pit for repairs. That relegated him to last in the 25-car field on the 4.014-mile, 14-turn track. In spite of making an extra pit stop – four versus three that most drivers made on the longest pit lane of the season – it was his Arrow McLaren team’s strategy that had him pit under two cautions (Lap 16 and 31), helping the Dane work his way back into the lead.
“How did we do that?” asked Lundgaard on his team radio, earning his second victory of the season (also won at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course) and third career win (Toronto 2023).
“Great sticking with it. I knew we had a chance. Last year I made a bunch of mistakes. To turn this around, I have to thank the team,” said Lundgaard, who led seven laps.
“We want to qualify better to win races,” he continued. “It doesn’t matter where we start as we usually get good results by producing good race cars. But we don’t want to make it so hard on ourselves. It took real effort to stay on the lead lap because I knew it was such a long race. One caution can bring you back. It’s what you hope for. I had the pace in Practice One and Two and at the test two weeks ago.
“It was a very eventful and long day,” revealed Lundgaard. “Marcus (Armstrong) should have won this race. We’ve all had these types of things happen. I am here to prove myself every weekend. We’ve done so well on road courses this year. I felt positive about alternates (softer red tires) this race but some drivers didn’t like them. Kyle Moyer (strategist) is not afraid of taking risks. It may bite us some day. But he knows exactly what he is doing. We made the right moves at the right time. We have both been so confused this weekend and did not expect this result.”
Malukas earned yet another second-place finish, his third of the season, driving his Verizon car for Team Penske. He started on the front row alongside Palou, the pole winner.
“We are P2 champions,” joked Malukas, advancing to second in the title fight. “I must look into my race pace. I was just struggling so I have to see what I can do differently. I have to figure out why I am losing some time. It was a crazy race. Insanity. I never knew what was going on and then we ended up in second place. Big kudos to the team.
“It’s always a battle of containing myself (under pressure),” continued Malukas. “I’m still in the championship fight with a good number of races to go (eight). I’m on that edge of wanting to take risks to go for that first win, but not do something stupid. That’s my challenge of this year. When it comes to INDYCAR, everybody here is a veteran driver, even the rookies. The field is incredible. Everybody is at the top of their game.”
Asked if and where he could’ve passed for the win on the last lap restart, Malukas answered, “There’s not really any chance there when you’re going against alternates versus primary tires. It’s not really going to be a competition. You come out of Turn 14, the leader is going forward and I’m going sideways. If we were on the same tires, you can maybe make an opportunity.”
On the last lap, Power ran into the back of Graham Rahal, who spun off the track at Canada Corner/Turn 12, causing the fifth and final caution of the race. That cost Rahal his fourth podium of the year. Initially, Simpson and Palou were shown as finishing third and fourth, respectively. But the full course yellow meant no improvement in position, allowing Power to earn his first podium of the season, driving for Andretti Global.
“I was braking,” explained Power, about the incident with Rahal, who moved over and was penalized for blocking. “Rahal was braking. I’m not sure what happened. From my perspective, I could not do anything. I had a fast car. It was a very good day for us. My best finish of the season, which has been really rough for sure.
“The yellows push everyone to be on the same strategy and prevents you from going long (extending your fuel an extra lap or more),” disclosed Power. “It’s too hard to understand when they will throw a yellow. When a car makes contact, there should be an immediate yellow. But if the car is in the gravel … a teammate can drive into the gravel for you.
“In the past, if someone spins or someone goes in the gravel, and there’s no contact, they would let the sequence happen by throwing the yellow and give everyone a chance to pit. To me, in all motorsports around the world, it’s the fairest, best way you can do it. Using the virtual safety car, people get a free pit stop. I thought INDYCAR was doing it the best way. Now we’re sort of back to completely inverting the field at times, which I’m not a massive fan of. It depends where you qualify. If in the back, you’re fishing for those lucky yellows.”
Palou looked like he could earn his fourth Road America victory, but he exceeded the two-stage pit speed limit, which is 90 mph on the pit access road up the hill and then 45 mph just before the pit boxes start (his speed was 47.86 mph). It was a very uncharacteristic mistake on his second stop, on Lap 28, dropping him from second to 22nd. Prior to that, Palou’s first pit stop under green came on Lap 13.
Romain Grosjean, who stopped sideways across the track in Turn 5 after losing his left-rear tire, brought out the first caution on Lap 14 when Felix Rosenqvist was in the lead.
On a Lap 32 restart, after Christian Rasmussen’s car stopped at the Start/Finish line due to a hybrid issue, Marcus Armstrong took the lead. On his way to a first victory, the Kiwi led 14 laps only to have his Honda engine fail with three laps to go.
“The engine completely died,“ said a gutted Armstrong, passed by Lundgaard for the lead on Lap 52. “I have to speak to Honda to see what the issue was. There was no indication. I’m massively proud of my No. 66 crew, who did everything right. That (race) was ours to lose. I had some time in the pocket for Lundgaard. I’m really disgusted.”
Race strategy on the over four-mile-long track is limited to everyone pitting within one or two laps of each other. Even at 3.5 mpg, a driver can only go 16 laps on their 18.5 gallon fuel tank. Getting a caution will provide more flexibility. As a three-stop race, most drivers pitted between laps 13-16, 28-31 and 41-46. Drivers had to run two laps each on the black, primary tires and on the new alternate, red tires. The reds lasted about 12 laps before losing too much pace.
Road America was unpredictable and confusing, the winner coming from last to first. There were five cautions for a total of 11 laps and six lead changes among five drivers. Surprisingly, there were 17 penalties issued in the 55-lap race. Three were for blocking, two for pit speed violations, and eight cars were caught entering the pits, already on the pit access road, when the track went yellow. The pits were immediately closed so those drivers were considered pitting for emergency service and placed at the back of the field.
Palou is still the title points leader with 374 points, followed by Malukas second, 314, Kyle Kirkwood third, 313, Lundgaard now fourth, with 297, and Pato O’Ward in fifth, with 257 points.
Next up is the Mid-Ohio race on July 5, where a number of drivers will continue to try to impress team owners for a contract renewal, including Lundgaard.